Canadian forward Eric Staal and Swedish blueliner Nicklas Lidstrom were selected as the NHL All-Star team captains, in charge of picking the two teams out of a pool of elite players.
Lidstrom, of the Detroit Red Wings, is one of the best defensemen in NHL history and will be appearing in his 12th All-Star Game.
Staal is a captain of the host Carolina Hurricanes and will be making his fourth All-Star appearance. He was chosen the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game three years ago.
SIDNEY CROSBY
The status of the NHL’s leading scorer, Sidney Crosby, is in doubt for the game.
The Pittsburgh Penguins star remains sidelined with a concussion. If Crosby can’t play it will mark the third time he’s missed an All-Star Game because of injury. He appeared in his only All-Star Game four years ago.
Staal last week told a Canadian television station that he’d like to use his first pick in the draft to take his Carolina teammate and Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward. His brother, Rangers defenseman Mark Staal, is also up for grabs.
FORMAT
The captains will select their teams in a live draft two days prior to the game.
The only rules governing the draft are that goaltenders must be taken after each team’s 10th pick and defensemen have to be gone by the 15th selections. That leaves forwards to pick up the slack late.
Some notable names that were left off the All-Star roster are the Philadelphia Flyers’ Daniel Briere (24 goals, 40 points) and Dallas Stars forward Brenden Morrow (18 goals). Morrow was a member of Canada’s gold medal-winning Olympic team last year.
Briere has 10 more goals than forward David Backes, who was the lone player chosen to represent the St Louis Blues.
With the new format, someone has to face the indignity of being the final selection.
Asked about potentially being the last pick, Backes, known more as a checker than a scorer, said: “I think I got a little more steam in my engine than that.”
The annual All-Star Game is on Jan. 30 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB